Siniša Mihajlović

Early career

Mihajlović started playing organized football with his hometown team NK Borovo. He quickly marked himself out as a talented youngster, making the SR Croatia select squad for the Yugoslav inter-republic youth football tournaments. In 1986, he was attached to NK Borovo's first team. Playing in the SR Croatia provincial league (third tier competition on the Yugoslav club football pyramid), his first team debut took place on 25 May 1986 against Šparta in Beli Manastir. The match ended 1–1 with Mihajlović scoring a goal. The 17-year-old also got his first taste of professionalism with his first monthly salary being CHF500. In late 1986, Red Star Belgrade representatives led by scout Kule Aćimović came to watch the seventeen-year-old in a friendly Borovo played against FK Rad, but decided not to sign him. Then in late spring 1987, with NK Rijeka and Dinamo Vinkovci both seeking to sign Mihajlović, Dinamo Zagreb—led by club president Ivo Vrhovec and head coach Ćiro Blažević—also expressed an interest; their youth players Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinečki had been playing with Mihajlović on the SR Croatia select youth team at inter-republic and provincial youth tournaments and recommended him to the team. After seeing Mihajlović in a training session, Blažević took him with the rest of the first team to Sassari for an impromptu getaway between two league matches towards the end of the season, and gave him a substitute appearance in Dinamo shirt in a friendly…

Playing as a youth international, Mihajlović featured in 5 games at the 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Between 1991 and 2003, Mihajlović was capped 63 times and scored 10 goals for the Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro. He participated at the 1998 FIFA World Cup where he scored a free-kick against Iran as Yugoslavia reached the second round. He also participated at UEFA Euro 2000. He was sent off in Yugoslavia's opening game against Slovenia but returned after a one match ban with Yugoslavia reaching the quarterfinal. His final international was a June 2003 European Championship qualification match away against Finland.

Early into his playing career, Mihajlović marked himself out with an extraordinary long-distance striking, crossing, and passing ability. His precise curling yet hard-driven left-footed shot allowed him to score free-kick goals on a regular basis. A set-piece and penalty kick specialist, Mihajlović has said that he has scored free-kicks from as far as 35 yards, adding in a 2000 interview with BBC Sport: "I like to shoot with a swerve into both sides of the net. I often try scoring directly from the corners.". Regarded as one of the greatest free kick takers of all time, he was capable of both scoring and creating chances from dead ball opportunities, and holds the record for the most goals in Serie A from free-kicks, as well as the record for second most goals from free kicks in all competitions, with 43, behind Alessandro Del Piero. Along with Giuseppe Signori, he is one of only two players who have scored a hat-trick from free kicks in Serie A, a feat which he accomplished during his time with Lazio, in a 5–2 win over Sampdoria, on 13 December 1998, during the 1998–99 season. During his club career in Yugoslavia with Vojvodina and Red Star Belgrade as well as during his early spell at Roma, he played on the left side of midfield as winger, or as an attacking midfielder or second striker on occasion, where he was known for his stamina, speed, foot-work, and ability to cover the flank with his runs, as well as his excellent ball-striking ability with his left foot, and his…

Born in Vukovar into a working-class family of a Bosnian Serb father and a Croat mother, Mihajlović was raised in Borovo Naselje with a younger brother, Dražen (b. 1973). Their father Bogdan (d. 2011) was a truck driver at the Građevinar construction company in Vukovar, while their mother Viktorija worked in the Borovo shoe factory. Mihajlović identified as a Serb, but said that he viewed Croatia as his country as well. During the Croatian War of Independence, his home was destroyed by Croatian forces, among whom was his childhood best friend, an ethnic Croat, forcing his parents to flee. His maternal uncle called his mother and said that she should stay in Borovo, and that Siniša's father was to be killed. His uncle was arrested when the Serbian Volunteer Guard took over Borovo, but was freed because he was related to Mihajlović. In a 2016 interview Mihajlović said he had forgiven his childhood friend in a meeting in Zagreb prior to the crucial Euro 2000 qualification match between FR Yugoslavia and Croatia.